Decolorizing system for purification of lubricating oil in internal combustion engines



Feb. 1, 1938. w|-||TNEY 2,106,863 DECOLORIZING SYSTEM FOR PURIFICATION OF LUBRICATING OIL IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 26, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor Jain wh R. D. WHlTN EY Feb. l, 193s.

DECOLORIZING SYSTEM FOR PURIFICATION OF LUBRIOATING '2 'Shee t-Sheet 2 OIL IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 26, 1933 221 Wain Patented Feb. 1, 1938 I I UNITED STATES PATENT} OFFICE DECOLORIZING SYSTEM FOR PURIFICA- TION F LUBRICATING OIL IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES naiph n. Whitney, New York, N. Y. Application April 26, 1933, Serial no. 668,139

3 Claims. (01. 210-131) This invention relates .to means for purifying as a result of circulation in the engine, heats lubricating oil in use in an intemal combustion the absorbent, a condition which is required for engine while the oil is being circulated in the the most eificient functioning of the absorbent. engine, and particularly to means for decoloriz- It has been ascertained by me that contacting 5 ing said oil as it flows or is pumped through the the oil with the absorbent at greater than atoil conveying passages of the, engine. mospheric pressure reduces the mechanical and An important, object of my invention is to prochemical efliciency of the absorbent. The invide means of the character described which vention contemplates the treating of only a small includes an oil decolorizing unit having an oil portion of the oil at'a time, although continuous decolorizing medium with which the oil is concirculation. thereof is maintained and the treated tacted during its circulation in the engine. oil returned preferably directly to the crank- It-is well known that certain chemically active case. The oil may e withdrawn for treatment substances, such as arglllaceous clay, hydrous from any desired point in the engine'lubrication 1r aluminum silicate, and others, have the property system. I

" of absorbing and otherwise removing the more In order to clearly distinguish the decolorizing chemically active constituents from a fluid when process of this invention from the processes of the fluid is contacted therewith. It has been mechanical filtration employed in other crankestablished that a rise in temperature accomcase oil puri y n y m the f l w passage ,panies the phenomenon of this absorption of is quoted from the publication American Petro- 2 these constituents from a fluid in this manner, leum Refining, by H. S. Bell, page 371:- and that some of such constituents are more The process of removing color and deleterious readily absorbed in this manner than others of compounds from lubricating oils, termed filter said constituents. I have found the chemically ing, from a strictly technical interpretation, is active absorbents mentioned highly effective in incorrect.

their natural untreated condition, and .that if Filtration is rightly understood to remove 25 desired, acidulated'hydrous aluminum silicate,. suspended bodies from a fluid by percolation for instance, may be used which has been washed over finely divided material. The particles to sufliciently to show an alkaline rather than an be removed are retained on the surface and in acid reaction, adequate to neutralize the acidthe voids of the filter-beds, and the eiiiuent is :0 condition of the used oil which is produced durclarified. The actual decolorization of oil is a 3 ing the operation of the engine, primarily by process of absorption. escapebythe pistons of various products of com- In the drawings, wherein for the purposes of bustion which enter the oil in the crankcase. illustration 1 have shown a crankcase oil'puri- Chemical tests show that the removal of dilufying system in accordance with my invention: 5 ents, carbon, and other color producing impuri- Figure 1 is a side "elevationalview of an auto-. ties from the used oil in accordance with the mobile partly broken away to show the present present invention may reduce a nitrogen content invention assembled in operative relation to the of' 361% to .08%, and that an accumulation internal combustion engine. therein of 2.15% of sulphur may be reduced to. Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view 40 375%. The reduction in the manner described through the decolorizing unit per se. of thedeleterious nitrogen and sulphur content Fi ures 3, 4, and 5 are horizontal sections of the used oil whereby the used oil is restored taken approximately on the lines 3-3, 4-4, and to normal condition forms the basis of the pres- 55, respectively, of" Figure 2. ent invention. v Referring to the drawings in detail A indicates 45 The operation of the present invention is not a conventional automobile in the forward part concerned with a process of filtration of the oil of which is mounted on internal combustion en- 'which depends for its efficacy upon forcing the gine B by which the automobile is propelled. oil under pressure through mechanical separa't- While the system is illustrated in connection with 'ing agencies for 'separatingout and trapping the an automobile engine, it is equally applicable 50 deleterious materials. The present invention to tractor engines, and'to stationary internal contemplates the. contacting of the used oil at combustion engines utilizing oil circulating pipes atmospheric pressure with the chemically active or passages. The drivers compartment of the absorbent during the circulation of the oil in automobile is indicated at C in the front of 'theengine. The oil, being in a heated'condition which is located the instrument panel D. 5

The internal combustion engine B includes the customary cylinder block 1 and the crank case 8, which latter in the conventional engine forms an oil supply reservoir to which the oil is re- 5 turned after having been circulated a complete cycle in the engine. The conventional oil pump 9 pumps the oil from the crank case 8 and forces it under suitable pressure through a pipe III to a distributing head II from which the oil is con- 10 veyed by suitable pipes or other conduits, to the 1 parts of the engine to be lubricated. After the oil has lubricated the parts it flows by gravity back into the crank case to be recirculated in the manner described.

In the conventional automobile engine there is an upright pipe i2 which conveys oil under pressure from the head to the oil pressure gauge I3 mounted'on the instrument panel D. An upper part of the pipe l2 has interposed therein a fitting which does not obstruct the movement of the oil under pressure to the gauge l3 and embodies an adjustable reducing valve which opens into the top of the decolorizing unit to be described and provides the means whereby the amount and pressure of oil entering the said unit may be exactly regulated.

7 The decolorizing unit R is formed of an outer casing l4 and a concentrically spaced inner container IS, the upper ends of which are secured and sealed, as by welding, to the opposite sides oi. an annulus depending from the ring IS. A

cover plate I! is removably secured to the ring II by the stud bolts I! to provide access to the interior oi the inner casing II to enable removing and replacing the decolorizing material hereafter described. 'In the center of the cover plate I! is a threaded opening I! which receives the standard portion 20 of a cruciform fitting S.

The upper vertical arm 2| of fitting S is threaded to receive the screw valve 22 which is arranged to seat when closed on a rounded shoulder 23 formed at the juncture of the horizontal arms 24 with the standard portion oi the fitting. Closing the upper end 01' the upper verticalarm 2| is'a screw cap 25 through which the stem 26 of the valve extends. The outer ends 01 the horizontal arms 24 of fitting S are removably coupled to the sections'of the pipe l2, between which they are interposed, by the unions 21, asshown in Figure 1 o! the drawings.

The decolorizing unit R is secured inupright position by means of a pair of straps 2! which.

the heat chamber 3..

The lower end 01 both the inner casing and outer casing are sealed by a common bottom indicated generally at T which has portions of difierent diameter defining shoulders 3|, 32, re-

spectively, to the periphery of which the bottom .ends of the inner and outer casings are welded or otherwise secured. The common bottom T is Iormedot two horizontal partition walls II, 34 between which is an annular heat exchange passage II which communicates with the lower'end oi the heating chamber 30 by means of, a series of circumferentially spaced 38 which.

open through the shoulder 32. The partition 34 closes the lower end oi the inner casing l5 and the outer part 01' the partition 33 closes the bottom amascs I L of the outer casing l4 and forms .the bottom wall of the passage 35. An outlet nipple 31 depending 'from the bottom I communicates with the passages 35 and has connected theretoa pipe 38 which returns the overflowed oil to the crank case 8. A treated oil outlet nipple 39 communicating at its upper end with the interior of the inner casing, traverses the partition 33, the passage 35, and the partition 34 and depends below the bottom T where it has connected thereto a pipe 4| which returns the treatedoil to the crank case 8.

Upon the partition 34 constituting the bottom of the inner casing I5 is placed a felt disk 42 whose oflice'is to prevent loose decolorizing ma- 1 terial from passing into the inverted conical passage 43 in the outlet pipe 39. n top of this disk rests a non-corrosive perforated metal plate 44.

For convenience in placing and removing the de-. colorizing material, it may be made into a car-- 'tridge having an outer covering of waxed paper 45. The active material 46 may be amorphous argillaceous clay, hydrous aluminum silicate, or-

other similar chemical absorbent. Ii desired, loose active material may be used inthe container, that is, active material in loose condition. A normal charge of the decolorizing material fills the decolorizing chamber 40 about three-quarters full and upon the top of the material a perforated metal plate 41 is placed. 7

The oil entering the top of the decolorizing unit falls upon the perforated plate 41 and then percolates downwardly through the decolorizing material 46 byhgravity alone. The decolorizing chamber 40 being in heat exchange relation with the chamber 30 and with the passage 35, the active material 46 is adequately heatedby the oil to operate at high efllciency. Until the decolorizlug-material has becomeadequately heated the oil will not pass therethrough in volume but will rise and overflow through the openings 3| chamher 30, openings 36, chamber 35, and outlet 31 and return to the crank case. When adequately heated the material 46 passes a larger portion of the oil which is thereby purined'and returned to the crankcase.

While the invention has been described herein in detail, 'it is'to be understood thatchanges,

variations and modifications thereoi'- may be resorted to without departing'i'rom the spirit of the invention the scope oi the subjoined' claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. An oil decolorizing device comprising a pair of oil containers having substantially irn'perforate side walls one oi said containers'having a portion thereof disposed within the other container, at least one wall of the said portion of the said one container being arranged in spaced relation to at least one wall of the said other container thereby defining a heat exchange chamber, one of said containers being formed with passage means communicating with said heat exchange chamber, each of said containers being formed with outlet means, and one .o! said'containers being formed with inlet means, and means for preventing flow ofoil from one of said outlet means to the other.

2. A device for decolorizing used crankcase ofl, said device comprising a container arranged to receive the oil while hotand at atmospheric pressure, said container containing material active only while heated to adsorb coloring matter from the oil and inactive and impervious while unheated and having a first outlet for the oil which has passed through said material, a second container surrounding and spaced from the first containen and thereby defining a chamber in receiving rela-, tion to hot oil caused to accumulate in the first container by the failure of said material to pass oil while impervious and inactive, said first container being formed with opening means spaced from said first outlet permitting the accumulated oil to overflow into said chamber, said chamber holding such overflowed hot oil in heat exchange relation to said material so as to render said material pervious and active with respect to the oil entering the first container, said chamber having a second outlet, and means preventing fio'w of oilbetween said first and second outlets.

3. In a filter, a casing, a container disposed within the casing having imperforate side walls and a perforate end' wall, the imperforate side walls of the container being spaced from the side walls of .the casing, filtering material within the container, an inlet adjacent one end of the casing communicating with the perforated end wall of the container and with the'space between the side walls of the casing and container,-an outlet from the container adjacent the end of the container opposite the perforated end wall thereof, and a separate outlet from the casing communieating with the space between the side walls of the casing and the container adjacent the opposite end of the casing from the inlet, and means for preventing fluid passing through the outlet from the filter container from passing through the outlet from the casing and for preventing fiuid passing from the outlet from the casing from passing through the outlet from the container.

' RALPH D. WI -H'I'NEY. 

